Tomorrow is Ascension Day, a national holiday in France. So we made sure we did some grocery shopping picking up essentials like more wine and cheese. We also picked up some other food as well.
We tried out the other neighborhood bakery, Topaze , that was closed yesterday. We had a heavenly croissant, along with a delicious cream brioche. Their chocolate brioche was good, and their savory blue cheese bun also very good.
We then tried their macarons. Perhaps these were the best I have had thus far. You could taste the butter, and were more chewy than yesterdays, but not as heavy in butter and mouth feel as the Pain de Sucre.
Today we were off towards the Eiffel Tower. While most of all the tourist sites are within walking distance, some distances are large. And why get tired at the start. So we decided to use the transit system to get there.
I mentioned the options on transit fare in my previous post. One also has options in the two major types of transit. Above ground bus or Metro (subway). In Montreal we use the term Metro as well, and I was never sure where the term came from. If I am not mistaken, it is the shortened version for “Metropolitan” that we see on signs for some of their Metro stations.
If you are in a rush or need to get somewhere quick, the Metro is probably your best option. But if you have some time, the above ground bus is great as you get a visual tour of Paris as you ride.
Bus # 69 which we took is particularly pretty as it rides along the Louvre, enters the Louvre through an extremely narrow archway with views of the interior gardens and pyramids, then rides along the left bank to the Orsay Museum. It doubles back in, and then towards the Rodin Museum, goes past Les Invalides and then the Ecole Militaire and ends on the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower.
We will probably take an equally scenic route one day going the other day as we plan on using Bus # 69 to go to Pere Lachaise Cemetery.
I am sure many other routes will be quite scenic as well. So if you are not in a rush, and do not want to walk, why not use the bus?
Unfortunately there is a tennis tournament going on, so there are tennis courts and a huge TV screen on the Champs de Mars grounds. As an added distraction, there is construction work on the Eiffel tower as well, but it is still grand and spectacular.
We walked slowly along the Champs de Mars, watching the Eiffel tower loom ever closer, until we were finally underneath it. Considered an eyesore when it was built, what other image conjures Paris better than the Eiffel tower?
Crossing the Seine, we walked into the Trocadero Gardens. The fountains and Palais de Chaillot add a completely different perspective to the tower. Tour buses seem to drop tourists off at either end. I think the best way to appreciate the Eiffel Tower is to take one’s time and stroll about, preferably more than once.
Having our fill of the tower, we doubled back through Trocadero Gardens, under the Tower, and along the Champs de Mars.
Just a few blocks is rue Cler, our next destination. Paris should be thought of as a group of villages that became neighborhoods that coalesced into a city. Rue Cler typifies this neighborhood. Still Parisienne to some extent, it is lined with bustling food stores that locals still visit almost daily for food. Parisians have small fridges, and equally small kitchens, so they tend to shop almost daily. This also ensures their food is fresh and delicious. They do eat and dine well.
A little chalkboard summed it up well. “A meal without wine is breakfast. Breakfast without champagne is not breakfast.”
We decided to stop at Cafe Du Marche . Hera ordered the steak tartare while I had the duck confit. Both were excellent. To accompany it, we ordered a half bottle of the house wine which was superb. By the way, a cheeseburger goes for the same price, so please do opt for the local fare.
Our dinner over, we took our time to savour our wine as we watched people on the street.
Leaving Cafe du Marche, we looked over at the offering at a Bakery across the street, but seeing macarons in a bakery window further down the street, we had to enter. At Francois Pralus , we bought two macarons, a cassis and chocolate noir. They were good. The butter taste was there, and there was enough chewiness, but I think this morning’s were a bit better.
Most days, we probably would have continued walking. But we have had some long days, and I had awoken to a sore throat and some aches, so we decided to head back home.
